Systems of Perception. Innovatory Concepts and new Approaches to Netherlandish Art and Culture

Symposium abstract on behalf of the organizers

International conference of the “Arbeitskreises Niederländische Kunst- & Kulturgeschichte e.V. (ANKK)“ in cooperation with the Institute of Art History at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, 09/30/2011 – 10/01/2011

The first major international symposium of the ANKK with the guiding principle ‘Systems of Perception’ addressed orders of visualization in all categories, methods and periodes of Netherlandish art. With its highly varied possibilities for presentation and discussion it offered a platform for networking among established academics as well as for junior scholars. The parallel sessions were completed by an international guest session of HNA (Historians of Netherlandish and German Art). Further issues could be discussed in individual workshops. Furthermore, young scholars were given the opportunity of presenting and discussing their projects in the poster section. In addition to a public evening lecture by Krista de Jonge (Leuven) about the architecture of the Netherlands in the 16th century Mieke Bal (Amsterdam) presented her film “A long history of madness” that was produced in cooperation with Michelle Williams Gamaker.

The first session was introduced by Elke Anna Werner (Berlin) and aimed at making the idea of theatricality useful for art history. The complex interaction between theater, festivity and imagery was investigated. Christiane Kruse (Kiel) studied strategies of visualization that were used by artists in the 16th century with a focus on dissimulation, disguise and masquerade. She emphasized the meaning of the issue of Dis/Simulatio as a cultural technique. The close connection between contemporary festive culture and its visualization was shown by Tanja Michalsky (Berlin). She analyzed three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder in which the simple village square served as stage for society behavior. Nina Cahill (Kassel) investigated the parallels between theater and image by means of comparisons with contemporary ‘Tableaux Vivants’ in plays. She demonstrated which kinds of strategies were used by 17th century artists to transfer the ephemeral medium of theatre into a painting. Pablo Schneider (Berlin) posed the question of the meaning of facial expression, gesture and movement in the image and placed Rembrandts “Raising of the cross” (1633) in the center of his investigation.

Problems of perception and visualization in Netherlandish art were the central theme of the second session led by Peter Bexte (London). Ulrike Gehring (Trier) postulated that the opening of the pictorial space in netherlandish painting took place due to the transfer of scientific principles to painting. This gave rise to a lively debate whether Flemish historical paintings around 1620 anticipated scientific findings that were not known until decades later. Caroline Fowler (New Jersey) analyzed Karel van Manders’ understanding of ‘seeing’ and focused on the difference between empirical and intuitive seeing. Ulrike Kern (London) explored Samuel van Hogstraatens arrangement of the colours of the rainbow that are not in accordance with the natural order. She explained the artist’s choice in terms of artistic and scientific results about coloured light. An analysis of Jan Saenredam’s engraving of Plato’s Parable of the Cave was carried out by Karl Clausberg (Lüneburg). He described the engraving, which was so far regarded as a mere illustration, as a theoretical construct with diverse scientific and artistic contexts.

The third part dealt with ways of innovation in terms of artists’ journeys and cultural transfer between the Netherlands and Germany in the 16th and 17th century and was opened by Anja Grebe (Bamberg) and Eveliina Juntunen (Bamberg). Katharina van Cauteren (Leuven) discussed the “old-fashioned” mannerist style of Hendrick de Clerck in connection with his patrons from the Habsburg line. The close stylistic relation to the paintings at the courts of Munich or Prague could be the key for a better understanding of art at the court in Brussels. Sarvenaz Ayooghi (Aachen) discussed which impact art experts in the service of Rudolf II had on art collections in the 16th century. Crossing frontiers of a singular artist were demonstrated by Dagmar Eichberger (Trier) using the example of the historiographer Jean Lemaire de Belges. She examined the artistic discourses at the courts in France and in the Netherlands as well as the competitive situation between Italy and the countries north of the Alps by means of theoretical passages in his treatises. Aleksandra Lipińska (Breslau) added new aspects to the numerous research projects concerning the tomb of elector Moritz of Saxony in the cathedral of Freiburg. She showed the cooperation between Netherlandish, German and Italian artists using Anthonis van Seron from Antwerp as an example.

The cultural and theoretical relevance of imagery concerning the theory of sympathy and antipathy played a central role in the orders of science and arts in the 16th and 17th century. This topic was explored under direction of Christine Göttler (Bern) and Karin Leonhard (Eichstätt-Ingolstadt/Florenz) in the fourth session on the basis of single case studies. Using the example of Otto van Veen Ralph Dekoninck (Louvain-La-Neuve) demonstrated the interaction between science and emblematics. The transfer of the forces of natural magic into works of art was described by Berit Wagner (Frankfurt). She posed the question as to how pieces of art with this inherent quality may have been used at the time. Especially in view of an intended arrangement and ordering of artwork in art cabinets of the 17th century, new insights were gained. Marrigje Rikken (Leiden) pointed out the relevance of Jan Breughel the Elder concerning the depiction of animals. An approach towards the understanding of Asiatic, especially Chinese artwork was carried out by Thijs Weststeijn (Amsterdam) in regard to the Dutch humanist Isaac Vossius. The concept of art as a mirror of nature gave way to a more open aesthetic, which estimated the linear simplicity of Chinese art instead of devaluing it.

An insight into various subject areas was provided by individual workshops about processes of paintings in the 15th and 16th century (Katrin Dyballa, Berlin), about romanism in Netherlandish painting (Stefan Grohé & Anna Pawlak, Cologne), about iconographic research of urban landscapes (Katrien Lichtert, Gent) and the latest research on the field of netherlandish and German prints and drawings (Britta Bode, Berlin & Anne-Katrin Sors, Göttingen). Arjan De Komen (Amsterdam) and Frits Scholten (Amsterdam) drew attention to their new research project concerning Netherlandish sculpture in early modern Europe.

The last session that was introduced by Eva von Engelberg-Dočkal (Weimar) and focused on the ‘image‘ of Netherlandish architecture. Sascha Köhl (Zürich) offered new insights into 15th Century architecture in the Netherlands, which may seem standardized and conventional in comparison to the painting of that time. He pointed out the potential of innovation in architecture and its representation, as well as concerning new tasks of architecture and new methods of architectural conceptual designs. Eveliina Juntunen (Bamberg) explored an architectural citation of the Antwerp Liebfrauenkirche in Vredeman de Vries’ love garden and its meaning, while Simon Paulus (Münster) studied the relations between Netherlandish and northern German architecture around 1700. The last session of the conference ended with a survey by Meike Leyde (Bamberg) concerning the development of museum architecture in the Netherlands of the 1970’s by means of the functional museum buildings by Wim Quist.

The positioning of art works in their original contexts served as the main focus of the guest section run by Miya Tokumitsu, a member of HNA. Bert van de Roemer (Amsterdam) analyzed visual strategies concerning order and depiction of natural history in illustrated books around 1700. Gero Selig (Schwerin) investigated the collection catalogue of the Schwerin gallery of paintings and its relevance for the perception of the collection by visitors. Jan van Kessel’s painting series of the four parts of the earth could be located in its presumably original context in the collection of the Antwerp silversmith Jan Gillis by Nadia Baadj (Ann Arbor). Eva Zhang (Heidelberg) investigated the importance of Asiatica at European courts and their development from precious objects in the art chambers in the 17th century to being a part of the European art production in the 18th century. She outlined the function of Asiatica as princly self-representation and their significance for the European urban elites.

Further opportunities for open discussion were offered by the workshops on the artistic relationships between the Netherlands and the Orient (Barbara Welzel, Dortmund), on the reinvention of landscape in contemporary Dutch art (Kathryn Brown, Tilburg), on vision and visualization in the 15th century (Inigo Bocken, Nijmegen, Heike Schlie, Berlin) and on the invisible in Netherlandish art (Koenraad Jonckheere, Gent).

The Frankfurt conference brought to the fore the relevance of research in Netherlandish art history and succeeded in redefining its position within the broader spectrum of disciplines in Germany. With its guiding principle “Systems of Perception” inherent structures of visualization were investigated in diverging contexts. The openness of this issue made room for all methods, categories and periods, provided ample opportunity for a new perception of well- established research areas such as the study of collection and historiography and equally opened up new areas such as film studies.

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